Manning Travel and Tour America were crowned ITAA Travel Agencies of the Year 2018 at the annual Irish Travel Industry Awards in association with Aer Lingus on Thursday, January 25th.
The prestigious awards gala took place in the elegant surrounds of the Mansion House, Dublin, and was attended by over 500 travel and tourism professionals from around the world.
Manning Travel, who are based in Kilkenny, won the title of ITAA Travel Agency of Year 2018 with under ten employees, whilst Tour America was crowned the ITAA Travel Agency of Year 2018 with over ten employees. Both of the winning agencies were praised for their stand-out customer service, their first-rate expertise and the wide range of travel options available to customers.
Other big winners on the night included HRG Ireland who won Best ITAA Corporate Travel Agency, Cassidy Travel who won Best ITAA Member Bricks & Mortar Marketing Campaign, Click & Go who won Best ITAA Member Digital Marketing Campaign and Grenham Travel who won Best ITAA General Marketing Campaign.
The award for Best ITAA Corporate Travel Professional went to Louise Dunne and Karen Ray, who job share in The Travel Broker, and the award for Best ITAA Leisure Travel Professional went to Joanna Gomez in Travel Focus. George Barter, of J. Barter Travel in Cork, was this year’s recipient of the ‘Special Contribution to the Irish Travel Industry Award’.
Speaking at the awards, Cormac Meehan, President of the ITAA, said: “Tonight we celebrate the exceptional professionals working in our industry. I wish to extend my congratulations to all of the winners, especially Manning Travel and Tour America who both deservedly won overall titles. 2017 was a very positive year for the Irish travel trade and this is down to the talented and hardworking individuals in our industry who endeavour to offer quality travel products to Irish holidaymakers.”
The annual event is designed to showcase excellence within the industry and the difficult job of judging the Member Award Winners falls to an independent panel of judges, chaired by Bill Smith.